Review of For a Good Time, Call...

Lauren and Katie, college frenemies with a mutual good friend, move in together at age 28 in order to afford an amazing Gramercy Park apartment. The unlikely pair start a phone sex line and become best friends while learning about this hilarious world of vibrators, fake orgasms and nighttime callers. When the hot line is hung up and reality comes calling, the most meaningful relationship of their lives is put to the test.

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Submitted by Craig Younkin - Movie Room Reviews on 2012-08-29 13:56

Last year “Bridesmaids” showed that women could do crude humor. When did that stop? Didn’t Cameron Diaz expertly handle a “hair gel” scene more than a decade ago? Anyway, now here is Lauren Miller and Katie Ann Naylon’s “For a Good Time, Call”. It’s got laughs, it’s got heart. Looks like crude women are 2 for 2 so far.

In addition to sharing screenwriting duties with Naylon, Miller also stars as Lauren, having life all planned out before unfortunately being forced to shack up with Katie (Ari Graynor), the girl who humiliated her at a party in High School. Gay best friend Jesse (Justin Long, getting the films best lines) mediates the truce but even he is shocked when Lauren, after failed job interviews, winds up stumbling on to Katie’s phone sex business and decides to manage the marketing and billing. Soon the money is rolling in and the two are bonding in more ways than one.

The lines are pretty funny. “Whatever they say, I just tell them I want to lick it” says Katie, as she describes how easy the business is. But there is something deeper here than the phone sex angle. At its heart, this is a winning story about female friendship with two star-making lead performances from Miller and Graynor. Miller’s straight-laced uptightness transitions perfectly into kinky curiosity while Graynor is playful, cute, and totally endearing. These two are so easy-going and sweet together that the laughs and heart just come naturally.

There are some really funny cameos here by Kevin Smith, as a cab driver fantasizing about trucks backing into a loading dock, and Miller’s husband Seth Rogen, as an airline pilot trying to get one off before taking off. But mostly it comes down to Miller and Graynor, two actresses who make for a fine comedy team.